The Chronicles Of Rival; The Lost Ones.

Chapter Six: The View

A quiet knock sounded at my door less than three minutes after Damion had left.   I sat up, back straight, ready to give my full attention to whoever opened the door.  "Come in," I stated.   The door swung slowly, until a maid snuck through.   Her eyes grew wide at the horrible mess, but she focused back on me and curtseyed.   "Good Morning, Grand Mistress,  I've come to ask what you would like for your morning meal," the older woman informed me.   I thought carefully, but my mind drew a blank.  "Whatever the chef wants to make, that is high in protein,"  I replied.  I found myself waiting for her to complain, but she simply nodded and began to walk to the door.   

"And please send a few people to clean this up,"  I added before she reached it.   "Yes, Mistress," she replied before slipping back out the door.   I was not used to being served, or being in a place of authority.   But I suppose that it wasn't so bad.  I pushed my blankets back and sat at the edge of my bed.  I stretched my arms and a yawn forced its way from my mouth.  I walked across the cold marble floors and sat at my window seat.  The view from that window was always my favorite; lush green trees as far as the eyes could see,  hybrids of all kinds ran throughout them.   I could see everything below me, as I watched from my little cliff.   The Lake of Tears sat calmly in the distance.   Bird and dragon hybrids soared above it .  I called them my show offs.  

I opened the window and slid outside to sit on the roof.   The breeze was gentle, and the sun covered my skin with that sweet warmth.   A butterfly flew towards me and landed on the tip of my blue, silky nightgown.   I held my breath, not wanting to disturb it.   "Lady Yuki!" someone yelled, from down in the forest.   I released my breath and the butterfly flew away.   I groaned, wanting to just enjoy nature in peace.   I glanced down to see a small figure, pointing at me.  

~~~~~Four years ago~~~~~

Damion sat up on a high branch, in a huge oak tree, by the bank of the River of Soul.   I could barely see him out of the corner of my eye.   But I pretended that I was completely unaware.   Since he saved me last year, I had been watching more closely for him.   After all how could he have known dad yelled at me unless he had been observing me.   And I was right, he would follow me and watch every single day, except one week every single month.  Those were the weeks that I chose to bathe and whatnot.   The last thing I needed was him staring at me while I was naked.    I tended to ignore his stalking.   It never bothered  me, usually.   

The current day was an exception.   He was supposed to be gone that week.  It was my bathing week.   And there he was sitting in a tree, watching.   There was no way that I would've taken my clothes off with him studying me.  But I really wasn't sure what to do.   So I sat on top of a large rock and stared at the water.  He didn't move for a long time, but after almost an hour and a half he was gone.   I knew he could vanish very quickly, but part of me wondered if he used an invisible spell.  I wished I knew how to use Spiritual Sight.  Or even could use a heat seeking spell.  But I couldn't.  

I teleported three miles down the river and stood behind a tree, waiting to see if he would follow.  Nothing.   I  slowly approached the water's surface and glanced at my reflection.   I never liked seeing myself.  It made me feel confused, and weird.   I saw the girls in the nearby village, and I realized that all of them look so much different than me.   I never matched their definition of beautiful.   My ears, hair, even my pale skin, made me appear so unusual to everyone.   They all had pretty brown eyes, and soft dark brown skin.  And their hair, I loved to look at their hair.  It was always a very light pastel color.    Everything about them was always so complementary, and perfect.   I couldn't explain what I felt like, but I always wished to be like them.

With flowers and ribbons in their hair and joy filled eyes, always content and happy.  I hadn't even realized what was happening, as a tear slid down my face and into the water.   Another thing that was wrong with me.   I wiped my face and sat down at the edge of the grass.  I was never smiling, or laughing.  I pulled my knees up to my chest and laid my head against them.  I wasn't very good with feelings.  Dad always told me that emotions were useless, and that they always ruined important decisions.  I knew he was right.  I had seen one of those village girls give into her emotions once, when she told her friends that she loved some boy.  And the very next day he was giving flowers to her best friend.   

I had seen everything dad told me about, and he was always right.  I was not supposed to look like the other girls, because I was not born to be an emotional being.   I was a cursed weapon. I didn't belong here.   I was lucky that dad found me.  My only purpose was to do whatever dad wanted.  And still part of me refused to believe it.